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This paper contributes to our understanding of minority entrepreneurs in the US by showing that ethnicity alone should not be used to describe or categorize small business owners. We examine a sample of 508 entrepreneurs from three minority groups (African, Mexican, and Korean Americans) and a white group using cluster analysis to explore a categorization pattern that best describes the differences among these entrepreneurs. Our findings suggest that minority entrepreneurs are in fact a very heterogeneous group on a multitude of dimensions such as motivations for entry, satisfaction with the business, nature of problems experienced, and demographics of the business such as its size and gross income. Based on our findings, we recommend that educational and support programs targeting minority entrepreneurs should consider other variables rather than focusing on ethnicity alone.

This study explores the financial intermingling behavior of Mexican-American and Korean-American owned and operated small businesses. It posits that ethnically-owned and -operated small businesses with strong familial ties and more limited access to financial capital are more likely to intermingle financial resources than other small businesses. Mexican-American small business owners typically have very strong familial ties, while Korean-American small business owners typically have very strong community ties. Perhaps more importantly, Mexican-American small business owners have less access to pools of community capital than Korean-American small business owners. Therefore, it is expected that Mexican-American small business owners are more likely to intermingle financial resources than Korean-American small business owners. Even when controlling for the time in United States and English language spoken in the household, this study suggests Mexican-American small business owners are more likely to intermingle financial resources than Korean-American small business owners. Within these two ethnic groups, similar factors contribute to intermingling. Small business owners living in rural areas and borrowers are more likely to intermingle financial resources for both ethnic groups.